Larsen Earns Season Best Finish – 5th at Daytona Supercross

March 6, 2011 5:45pm

JDR/J-Star/KTM Team rider PJ Larsen earned his season best finish with a 5th place result at the third round of the AMA East Lites Supercross Series at Daytona International Speedway. His teammate, Tye Simmonds, qualified for his fourth Supercross main event and finished 17th for the night.

Larsen had a decent start to his evening finishing 4th in his heat race. He had a top five start and rode a mistake-free race to finish 4th overall. His result gave him a good gate pick for the main event. “The gate pick was critical here tonight because the start was so important to this race. I was happy to have a good heat race result so I was able to land a decent starting spot for the main,” commented Larsen.

In the main event, Larsen lined up five gates over from the inside of the box next to Dean Wilson. He was able to get a good jump off the start and came around inside the top ten after the first corner. He moved up to 7th at the end of the first lap and stepped up to 6th on lap two after moving around Les Smith.

Larsen put in a solid performance racing in 6th position through the majority of the race. Near the end of the race he was able to jump up one more position when Matt Lemoine crashed. Larsen held 5th place through the end of the race to earn his season best finish.

“I was glad to put in a decent ride tonight. I am happy to improve upon my overall finish but I still feel I am a podium contender. I want to be on the podium and will continue to work hard to get there,” stated Larsen.

In the Supercross class, Simmonds was able to snatch the final qualifying position into the main event after a long battle with Jarrod Browne. The two riders battled during the final laps of the heat with Simmonds grabbing the golden ticket into the main event.

Simmonds had a poor gate pick in the main after qualifying at the bottom of the group, and therefore, suffered off the start of the race. He was 18th at the end of the first lap and stayed around that position throughout the majority of the race. “I wasn’t able to get the best start and the lead group pulled away fast. This course was definitely challenging tonight and I am just happy to have made the main event and put in a solid twenty laps,” remarked Simmonds.

The team will head to Indianapolis, IN next weekend for the tenth round of the AMA Supercross Series.

Overall Results Supercross Lites Class –

  1. Blake Baggett
  2. Justin Barcia
  3. Ryan Sipes
  4. Blake Wharton
  5. PJ Larsen – KTM
  6. Jason Anderson
  7. Malcolm Stewart
  8. Dean Wilson
  9. Matt Lemoine
  10. Les Smith
  11. Lance Vincent
  12. Taylor Futrell
  13. Alex Martin
  14. Levi Kilbarger
  15. AJ Cantanzaro
  16. Hunter Clements
  17. Nico Izzi
  18. Kyle Keylon
  19. Hunter Hewitt
  20. Ryan Zimmer

Overall Point Standings Supercross Lites Class –

  1. Justin Barcia – 69
  2. Blake Baggett – 65
  3. Dean Wilson – 60
  4. Ryan Sipes – 54
  5. Blake Wharton – 51
  6. Jason Anderson – 41
  7. Matt Lemoine – 35
  8. Malcolm Stewart – 34
  9. PJ Larsen – 33
  10. Lance Vincent – 33

Overall Results Supercross Class –

  1. Ryan Villopoto
  2. Chad Reed
  3. Ryan Dungey
  4. Andrew Short – KTM
  5. Davi Millsaps
  6. Justin Brayton
  7. Kevin Windham
  8. Ken Roczen – KTM
  9. James Stewart
  10. Mike Alessi – KTM
  11. Ivan Tedesco
  12. Matt Boni
  13. Trey Canard
  14. Michael Byrne
  15. Nick Wey
  16. Fabien Izoird
  17. Tye Simmonds – KTM
  18. Brett Metcalfe
  19. Chris Blose
  20. Matt Goerke

Overall Point Standings Supercross Class –

  1. Ryan Villopoto – 196
  2. James Stewart – 173
  3. Chad Reed – 172
  4. Ryan Dungey – 165
  5. Trey Canard – 154
  6. Andrew Short – 128
  7. Brett Metcalfe – 107
  8. Justin Brayton – 105
  9. Davi Millsaps – 104
  10. Kevin Windham – 89